Science Month

I feel, that like us, if kids have each and every subject you could possibly push at them each and every day, they won't retain any of the informational chunks that get tossed their way. I always found the public school day is crazy in the way it is split up. It isn't until high school (and very often, not even then) that kids are expected to study one subject for more than 40 minutes... That usually means they don't get to start and complete a experiment or even a chapter in one day... they have to come back the next day and are expected to remember everything that happened the day before. Even though as many as 6 other subjects, and who-knows how many after school activities they have seen between today and tomorrow.

I try very hard not to do that to my kids in homeschool. I try to give my kids whole days, or even weeks, sometimes on subjects we find interesting.

This month it is Botany. We are LOVING playing with plants and food, and different flowers and such. For a few $$ in different varieties of white flowers and some food dye from the kitchen we are learning all about stems of different plants, and what it really means when the plants soak up water to the tips of their petals. We have planted at least 10 different varieties of seeds and are checking on them every day to see what new things they are doing. On these days, the kids have not been required to do any Math or any Reading except what is on their Botany lessons and even Creative Writing has taken a turn for the plantlife inclined.

The pic above is Cyan with her apple seed seedling. She sat for a few minutes just staring at it like she had never seen a seedling before. When asked what she was doing she responded with: "I am just so happy to see that from this tiny thing comes a tree that I can grow in the back yard of our new house and it will give us apples!" I don't know if it will or not... but what a beautiful idea.